ChocoTaco7568

That's unfortunate because I love Teresa, I'd probably invite her to my wedding. Okay, not a true statement, but I'm trying to emphasize my satisfaction with choosing her to be my TA. I signed my contract more than 3 months ago, and nothing has changed in terms of her level of commitment and service. I correspond with her just as much as I did prior to signing and shes always prompt and pleasant (and I know I can be annoying). I say take the advice from Tammy and follow-up with a phone call. Sometimes a person’s tone/attitude can be misconstrued in an email and there are certain situations where a phone call just works best.

My budget was also $2,000 but went against advice and looked at gowns up to $3,500 with intensions of shopping around for a sample if necessary. A bit of a gamble, but it worked out in the end. My dress retailed for $3,200 and I purchased a very pristine sample for $1,850. I did call 16 bridal boutiques to hunt down a sample that would be discounted enough to meet my budget. Of the 16 boutiques that carried the line only 5 had the specific dress, 2 of them refused to sell because the sample was less than a year old, but luckily one of the remaining 3 sold me my dream dress for more than 40% off! However, my dress doesn't seem to be very popular and was only tried on by a handful of brides in a 9 months time period. So I think the boutique didn't see it as a loss, because there was low interest in the style.

There are no legal requirements to get married in mexico if it's a symbolic ceremony. you can get lagally married as far in advance or even after the symbolic ceremony has taken place and legally marry when you return home.

Congrats! I'm typically not a fan of princess silhouettes, but this is fantastic and I'm sure you look amazing in it.

Hey there! I like to think that I’m on top of things when it comes to my wedding planning, but my Fi is convinced that I’m OCD and wedding planning proves it. I think you’re right on track, we have over 11 months to go, which is plenty of time. Any-who. I had the same hang-up when it came to the design for our invites and ultimately I went with boarding passes and will do passports instead of the typical pre-travel brochure. Regarding the symbolic ceremony, if you’ve read the past couple of pages in this thread, then you know that I had concerns with this too. My fi and I came to the decision this weekend that we are going to have my brother officiate our symbolic ceremony and he is honored to do so. If it’s not legal, we would much rather be married by someone who knows us and actually cares about our union, instead of a random stranger. We don’t really see this being a problem because we believe that most of our guest are practical and understand that they are there to witness our love and commitment. The stance that we came to, is if we have to deceive our guests in order to get their support and for them to be happy for us, then something is wrong with those relationships. If it cheapens the experience, and if they feel that it’s no longer necessary to attend simply because it’s not legal, then it’s their issue, not ours. Obviously there isn’t a right or wrong answer to how this should be approached, but every couple needs to do what’s best for themselves and what will ultimately make them happy. Remember, it’s your marriage, no one else’s.

+1, i really like the natural color for this dress and material. I think bright white can be a bit stark and not flattering on most. Congrats on finding a beautiful dress is this a Mikaella?

Sorry to hear of your loss, Shay. I must have been a eager with the dress shopping, since it seems that most of you are waiting until the fall to even start. I can't wait to see what dresses ultimately steal your hearts.

I am also contracting the services of an outside photographer and the price will be dependent on your budget and how many hours of service you deem necessary. I found that rates range from $350/hour to well over $1,000/hour. In the end I chose Sascha Gluck and am very excited to work with him. A good place to start is here on BDW and look at the list of to photographers. However, this list is not inclusive of every photographer available in the Riviera Maya and the rank is based on reveiws by BDW members only. I have spent countless hours looking through portfolios and blogs and do not agree with the order of rank, but that's just the point. You need to find a photographer that speaks to you through their work. Someone that will capture the essence of you and your fi on the big day. It's a scrutinizing process and most will agree that it's on of the most important decisions to make for your wedding. Good Luck with your search. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/category/photographer

Cardstock will yield the best results, but if printing on them I would suggest not exceeding 105lb weight. Here's a link to mine and all of the specs are in the text. And I didn't use bone folder, just a butter knife and it was perfect. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/79434/chocotaco-s-diy-orchid-boarding-pass-invitations

Yes, scissors are the only way, there is no punch for this unfortunately. Just make sure you have a good pair of scissors so so the rounding is smooth and easy. Honestly, it doesn't take much time and I think it's worth the effort, then again, I only made 21 invites. Good luck, and I hope you post your labor of love when it's complete.

We're good to go, but thanks for checking. My resort and Mexico for that matter, doesn't have this requirment. Strange that PuntaCana does.

Thanks, that was just the vote of confidence I needed! I totally would have inserted smiley faces high-5ing, but oddly enough they don't have one. We're definitely doing a symbolic ceremony. We never wanted to deal with the hassle of all the formalities and extra expense of getting married legally in Mexico. And as long as I can convince my Fi that we don’t need to put up a front for his parents, than my brother will officiate our ceremony. This shouldn’t require much convincing, but it still needs to be discussed. And as of right now, we’re leaning towards getting legally married a day or two after we return from our the destination wedding. We want the entire process to be a fresh and first time experinece so we’re reluctant to legally marry before.

Have fun dress shopping! Let us know how you make out.

Thanks Ladies! This was my exact logic, and for months I didn't think it would be a concern until it seemed to be the only complaint from 4 recent brides at my resort which of course made me nervous. But our ceremony is the most important part. If we were getting married in the states, my brother would have officiated. We thought it would have been more special and personal to have him marry us than a stranger. And a part of me still believes this should also apply for the destination wedding. My Fi is actually more adamant about our guests not knowing, especially his parents. I honestly think most people are excited that we're forcing them to take a vacation and our marriage is secondary with exception to our parents and best man and woman. And I think the only ones people who will question our choice to have a symbolic ceremony are my Fi's parents. His mom will feel emotionally slighted and his dad is just cheap and wouldn't understand why we're doing it. But I don't believe that anyone's decision to come would change based on whether or not our ceremony is legal. Most of our friends and family are pragmatic enough to understand if they were to find out or inquire (at lease the guests that we’re inviting). When it’s all said and done, this will be the day when my Fi and I publically profess our love and commitment. And if people think any less of it because it’s not legal, than maybe they shouldn’t come. I might have to talk with the Fi again. I think I just convinced myself that I want my brother to marry us.

Thank you!. I hope you enjoy putting them together, make sure you post them after your done so we can all ooh and aaah over them!

Thanks!

oh, and Erica's DIY brooch bouquet... http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/73419/diy-brooch-bouquet

I totally get the tropical feel that you're going for, which is why 1 and 5 were my favs. But with added info from you and Erica's response, I think option 3 would be best. I can't wait to see them when you're done.

Hey ladies, I’m looking for a bit of input. Like many of you, my Fi and I are having a symbolic ceremony for our destination wedding and taking care of all the leagal formalities before or after. We had no intention of informing our guest of this, as far as they’re concerned, the ceremony in Mexico would be the real deal. We thought it would somehow cheapen the experience for them if they knew. As such, we decided that we were going to script or own ceremony for the officiant to read. Based on recent feedback from ladies who have gotten married at my resort, the wedding coordinator procrastinates in providing the officiant with the scripted ceremony and waits until the day of, literally minutes before. To make things worse, not only is the officant unfamiliar with the script, but their accents are so thick that it’s hard to understand what’s being said. So my question is this, will my guests have a cheapened experience if they know the ceremony isn’t legal? Is it worth trying to find an outside officiant and pay an extra $250-$400 and conduct phone interviews? Or will my guest be okay, since legal or not, this is the ceremony that counts and the date that we will celebrate future anniversaries on. If so, we’re thinking about asking my brother to marry us in Mexico. Thoughts?

Hey Shay! I love that you’re doing a real touch/brooch bouquet. So here’s my $.02, hopefully it helps. I think the type of floral bouquet you choose may depend on the size of the brooches used. Options 1, and 5 are my favorites, but I think they would look best with small crystal brooches, while 3 and 6 would be best for medium to large brooches and in any color. And while I really like option 2, I have never seen one done with all calla lilies, which isn’t a bad thing, but it makes me think that it may be harder to hide the wire/stems that will be attached to the brooches since callas aren’t a full flower. Do you have any pics of flower/brooch bouquets that have inspired you?

Nope, you share the date May 4th with Chernay. Kudos to you on getting 26 guests booked already.

MissBubbles - Happy 1-year and counting!

UPDATE… Color scheme/theme determined (I forgot to metntion this before) Invites assembled, and waiting on my custom stamps from zazzle.com. But won’t mail until end of June/beginning of July. Website – 50% complete, I honestly didn’t think it would be so time consuming, but I’m happy with how it’s coming together. Maid of Honor dress picked – I wasn’t looking but found a dress that we both loved and it fit my color scheme perfectly I don’t have any specific deadlines this month, but still have quite the ‘To Do List’: Custom ring quotes; purchasing décor (ceremony, cocktail hour, recep); purchase/assemble pre-travel packages, and plenty of DIY projects and miscellaneous wedding coordination/purchases. Hey there! Yes there are quite a few May 18th brides on BDW, and you’re number 8 that I know of. At this rate I’m tempted to coordinate a meet-up especially since most of us are getting married in the Riviera Maya. Any-who welcome to the thread, it’s been great getting us May Brides together, we’ve been great resource to one another thus far. If you have the opportunity, I would suggest reading a few of the previous pages in this post as many of us have provide updates for May 2012 and tentative activities for June. I’m sure you will get reply’s to your post, but you may get better insight as some brides do not log on as frequently. I have provided updates above. Looking forward to getting to know you over the next year. Happy Planning!